Few US oil wells gained in 2009 ///

The total number of producing oil wells in the US stayed relatively flat over 2009 in the low-price environment of the first half of the year and the partial recovery of the second half. By the end of the year, the total oil well count increased by only 70 wells, to 526,114 from its 2008 number of 526,044, as reported by state agencies and estimated by World Oil. After several years in which it was common for states to gain or lose several thousand wells, state well counts were comparatively stable last year, with the biggest gain (1,641 wells) in Pennsylvania and the biggest loss (1,862 wells) in Indiana.